Bloody Friday

Bloody Friday was a series of twenty bombings executed by the Provisional IRA in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 21 July 1972, targeting the transport network of Belfast. The IRA sent telephoned warnings thirty minutes before each explosion, as the attacks were meant to be a statement by the IRA against the breakdown of talks with the British government, and not mass-casualty attacks. However, the security forces believed the calls to be hoaxes, and 9 people were killed and 130 injures in the bombings, many of which were car bombings. The bombings were detrimental to the IRA's reputation, and the British government cracked down on Irish republicans as Ulster unionist forces launched a series of revenge attacks against Irish Catholics.